I Dreamt I Was An Astronaut – Jeremy Tuplin

A wonderful review for The Driftwood Manor‘s album For The Moon from Folk Radio UK:

“This album is pure poetry – the writing is so engaging and beautifully crafted. The musicianship is so skilful, and the vocal arrangements unique. More than just listening to it, you feel it; it washes through you and seeps into your skin. And you find yourself becoming a wave too.”– Fran Lazarski, FRUK

Irish alt-folk act The Driftwood Manor mix Irish traditional music and folk with a range of other influences, from alternative rock to Eastern music and electronica. The band have released three albums and six EPs since 2008 and were voted in The Irish Times’ Breakthrough Acts of the Year for 2011 following the release of their second album ‘The same figure (leaving)’. Three English tours in 2014 and 2015 saw the band play to audiences in cities such as London, Bristol and Brighton.

The Driftwood Manor also performed twice at 2014’s Electric Picnic in Ireland and were among the headline acts at The Bath Folk Festival in August in the UK that year. The band’s last album, 2014’s Of the Storm, was voted in the Folk Radio UK Albums of the Year for 2014 and received exceptional reviews across the board. In 2015, the band again performed at Electric Picnic and a host of other festivals while touring extensively. During this time they also recorded their latest album, For the Moon, which is being released on Folkwit Records in the summer of 2016 with the singles Fraction of a Wolf and Fire and Brimstone being released in advance.

“Their music features a mass of influences but throughout you find a common ground of rich harmonies and striking yet simple melodies. For some reason I couldn’t shake off the sound of Gay and Terry Woods The Woods Band which strode that path somewhere between traditional, folk rock and a healthy dosage of seventies psychedelia. Comparing The Driftwood Manor to such a band is also a token of the value I place on their music. I really do believe they are something very special.”– Folk Radio UK

“The Driftwood Manor have made what is highly likely to be the finest record to find its way out of the thickets of Irish folk this year.”– Entertainment.ie

“Eddie Keenan is a hugely talented singer-songwriter, contributing to the ongoing development of the folk tradition in Ireland.”– The Galway Advertiser

A fabulous new album by the hugely talented UK singer-songwriter Paul Mosley – The Butcher is a folk opera – a ghost story told over 20 songs and featuring a plethora of fantastic musicians (The Red Meat Orchestra) and guests including Jamie Lawson and Josienne Clarke:

Singer-songwriter and musical adventurer Paul Mosley shares the singing duties on this beautifully arranged and produced album with various guests taking on different roles: Jamie Lawson (whose eponymously titled album reached number 1 in 2015), Josienne Clarke (BBC Folk Awards Winner 2015), Esther Dee (ex Medieaval Baebe) and Carolyn Mark (Canadian singer songwriter, Juno nominee). The musicians, under the name The Red Meat Orchestra feature Paul’s old band Moses, Bird Radio, musicians from Florence & The Machine, Feist, Benjamin Clementine and Patrick Wolf’s bands. The album is quite some musical adventure itself and one that oozes quality throughout.

“Featuring a stunning 20 songs, with 20 plus musicians from six different countries ‘The Butcher’ is an epic ghost story told in songs.”– Alex Gallacher, Folk Radio UK

“He is one of the very few people we know who constantly produce excellent sweeping concept albums. His new album ‘The Butcher’, over two years in the making, is no exception. Part ghost story, part redemption tale, part love story……one epic folk opera!’”– Laurel Canyon Music

“It’s an expansive work of two distinct parts, each of ten tracks, a composition of sweep and presence that compels you to take part … and you certainly should.”– Folk Words

“It will take you a while to thread your way through the story, even with Paul’s explanatory notes, but the music is rich enough to carry you through the bits you don’t quite understand the first time round. The Red Meat Orchestra can be everything from a rock band to a full orchestra with brass, strings, woodwinds and a harp.”– Folking.com

The Cosmic Array were founded via a collaboration between Paul Battenbough (No Thee No Ess, King of Despair) and Huw Rees (Rag Foundation, King of Despair) that started in late November 2012. Their 2014 self-titled debut album introduced their unique brand of sci-fi themed alt country/Americana music:

“This excellent record is a thing of definite, if expertly tarnished, splendour. The thoughtful and accomplished songs are undeniably sharp, and a joy from beginning to end…”– Ian Fildes, AmericanaUK

The new album Islands, sees the line-up bolstered by the considerable talents of singer-songwriter Abby Sohn, an American expat living in South Wales. The result is an immersive album – richly textured layers of sound fronted by the assured, languid vocal styles of both Battenbough and Sohn. It’s at times tender (Dear Ones), at times wholly uncompromising (Drones).

“The dozen tracks that make up ‘Islands’ are of such exquisite beauty that we hoped the album would never end…it’s a wondrous, magical, musical journey from beginning to end.”– Welsh Connections

“There’s going to be division over this one; those that love, those that hate, and the perplexed…”– Folkwords

The album was mixed & produced by Mat Wigley at Rhondda Street Studios, Swansea and mastered by Gaz Williams. Performing on the album are: Paul Battenbough, Huw Rees, John Coward, Abby Sohn, Mat Wigley, Andy Fung, Danny Kilbride, John Elvis Berry, Frank Naughton

The Cosmic Array were founded via a collaboration between Paul Battenbough (No Thee No Ess, King of Despair) and Huw Rees (Rag Foundation, King of Despair) that started in late November 2012. Their 2014 self-titled debut album introduced their unique brand of sci-fi themed alt country/Americana music:

“This excellent record is a thing of definite, if expertly tarnished, splendour. The thoughtful and accomplished songs are undeniably sharp, and a joy from beginning to end…”– Ian Fildes, AmericanaUK

The new album Islands, sees the line-up bolstered by the considerable talents of singer-songwriter Abby Sohn, an American expat living in South Wales. The result is an immersive album – richly textured layers of sound fronted by the assured, languid vocal styles of both Battenbough and Sohn. It’s at times tender (Dear Ones), at times wholly uncompromising (Drones).

Rivers of England are a folk-rock band from the West of England, fronted by the considerable talents of singer-songwriter Rob Spalding. Their luscious debut album Of Trivial and Gargantuan was released in 2014:

“…a strong and accomplished debut that gently drifts its unhurried way into the psyche, and its tender, sweet sounds seem to have arrived perfectly timed for the summer festival season.”– Ian Fildes, Americana-UK

“…a fine and original example of song writing…the music of Rivers Of England unleashes class and spontaneity…full of beautiful compositions…few can boast such versatility and poetic coherence.”– Gianfranco Marmoro, Ondarock (Italy)

Throughout the new album Astrophysics Saved My Life, Spalding continues to engage the listener with his unique approach to song writing. Themes range from the highly personal to the universal – the inner self to the outer cosmos – the emotional to the scientific.

“Astrophysics Saved My Life occupies that places between where ‘the predictable’ lives and ‘the unexpected’ takes over. More than simple folk-rock and far more complex than pop, deeper in expression, wider in scope, this album looks outward as much as it looks inward. The lyrics explore forward and refer back, the vocals entice, compulsive melodies weave their way around your ears, connections are made.”– Charlie Elland, FolkWords

“This is a fine album but listen carefully and don’t try to rush it.”– Dai Jeffries, Folking.com

It has been suggested that Rivers of England’s music fits somewhere between that of Alasdair Roberts and John Martyn. Although rooted in folk, their music explores jazz, rock and blues influences which are wonderfully apparent in their recordings and suggestive of a band with an altogether much broader and original take on the genre.

The new album features a plethora of fine musicians including strings and the guest appearances of blues-rock legend and former Robert Plant guitarist Innes Sibun on three of the tracks.

We cordially invite you to discover Rivers of England. Love, science, peace…

Jack and The’ is the musical project of Julien Lonchamp, a Frenchman-in-exile (for some years now, in Edinburgh) whose music combines catchy melodies with complex orchestrations and cascading harmonies, in the great tradition of the orchestral pop of the 60s and beyond.

The story behind Melody Cycle is one of great determination and patience with the album taking four years of painstaking work to produce. Written and recorded in Edinburgh, Dublin and Nancy (France) over two years, it features no less than 18 musicians, including a brass quintet and the 7-piece Apostrophe Ensemble. Needless to say clarinet, trombone, vibraphone, cello all feature but you will also hear at times, banjo, sitar and many other instruments as the band goes full circle from pop to chamber music to jazz. It’s a work of love and devotion we feel, well worth the wait.

In contrast Jack and The’s debut album Vacation (a pop manifesto) was written during Lonchamp’s “unfortunate” PhD in food science in Dublin. Swapping research on lettuce aromas for home recording, he then entrusted his songs to the crème de la crème of French pop producers (Orwell, Variety-Lab and Cascadeur). Originally available in Thailand via Smallroom Records, Vacation was released on Folkwit Records in 2012.

Jack and The’ will be touring Melody Cycle in the UK, France and Belgium in Spring 2016, and word on the street is that they might well be trying to pack the Apostrophe Ensemble in their luggage for a few gigs!

“… a sunny escape, an oasis of happiness, a celebration of music so joyful that it is impossible to resist its infectious melodies”– Popnews (FR)

“… invokes the entire High Llamas oeuvre, The Divine Comedy, McCartney’s first solo records and makes you wish Dennis Wilson had made more music on his own”– FATEA